


A Matter of Trust

by Mythica



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, post 4x08
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-18 14:39:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5931988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mythica/pseuds/Mythica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver tells Felicity about his son the morning after they come back from Central City.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Matter of Trust

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all!
> 
> So, I really hate how they had Oliver not tell Felicity about William when they came back from Central City. This is just my attempt to correct that mistake. They could be happy with no secrets between them, but no... the writers just can't allow that! Post 4x08 fix-it. Oliver realizes who is most important to him.

“Whoa, what a mess.” 

Felicity walked into the loft and threw her coat down on the couch. Oliver followed as he closed the door, making his way over to collapse onto the couch out of sheer exhaustion.

“Well, we have to clean this place up,” she told him as she watched him sit down, “Unless you’re ready to tell me what you said you’d tell me.”

Oliver sighed as he looked up at her.

“Felicity…um…”

“Oliver,” she interrupted as she picked up one of the throw pillows from the floor, “we have a life together, right?” 

Oliver gave her a nod and a small smile.

“We’re a team,” she continued as she swung the throw pillow and hit Oliver in the leg, causing him to let out a playful “Ow”. Reaching up to intercept her next attack, Oliver takes the pillow from her and puts it down on the couch next to him as she sits down on the arm of the couch. “If something is bothering you and I don’t know about it, I can’t help you fix it. I can’t be a good teammate. I love you and that makes me want to be the best teammate ever. And not in a Lance Armstrong performance enhancing drugs kind of way…” 

Oliver couldn’t help but laugh at her attempted sports analogy. He knew she was just trying to help, but he didn’t think there was anything she could do.

“More like…” she continued, “a more positive sports analogy I would use if I knew anything about sports.” Reaching out to touch his chest, Felicity gently rubs it, trying to make him feel her calming touch. She just needed him to open up. “What had you acting so strange when we got to central city?”

Oliver sighed as he looked up at her with a smile. “It doesn’t matter. It’s over and I am back in Star City… with you.” Wrapping his arm around her, he gently started to pull her onto his lap. “Come here.”

Letting him pull her down, Felicity wrapped her arm around his back as she settled onto his lap and he placed his head against her chest. Reaching up to gently stroke his hair, she heard him let out a contented sigh as he closed his eyes and relaxed against her. She knew something was still bothering him, but until he was willing to talk about it, there was nothing she could do.

>>>\--------------------------->

Oliver woke with a familiar feeling on his chest. As he opened his eyes, he smiled as he looked down to find Felicity sleeping soundly, laying on his chest with her arm across his waist. Reaching up with the hand that was around her back, he gently stroked her golden hair, being careful not to wake her. Unlike him, Felicity slept very soundly. It took a loud alarm to get her out of bed in the morning. With the night they had had, he didn’t expect her to be waking any time soon, but he didn’t want to risk it.

Oliver, on the other hand, had had a difficult time with sleep that night, even more so than usual. He had the opportunity to tell Felicity about William last night and he had chickened out. If he had just told her when he had said he would, he wouldn’t be waking to such a heavy feeling of guilt this morning. He was going to tell her, not matter what Samantha had said. She deserved to know. Felicity was right: They were a team and she could help him figure things out. It wasn’t right to keep this from her. He knew what secrets did to a relationship and he wasn’t about to risk this one no matter what the cost. He wanted to get to know his son, but not if it meant sacrificing his life with Felicity. Nothing was worth that.

Placing a gentle kiss on her head, Oliver slowly began to extract himself from underneath her. As he moved, she groaned a little, but once he was away, she just snuggled up with his pillow and settled back down. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he looked down at her and smiled as he gently pushed a stray lock of hair away from her face. He needed to tell her everything and he would do it that morning.

>>>\--------------------------->

Felicity woke to the smell of something amazing being cooked downstairs. Taking in a deep breath, she stretched her arms above her head and opened her eyes, not surprised to not find Oliver still in bed. He never slept in, even on weekends. That was not the case for Felicity. She’d sleep in whenever given the opportunity and with the night they had had, she thought they both deserved it.

As she thought back to the previous night, she ran a hand across her face. She knew Oliver was keeping something from her, but for some reason, he didn’t feel comfortable telling her what it was. She hated that he still wasn’t able to share everything with her, especially after all they had been through. Somehow she’d have to let him know that whatever it was, she could handle it. For all she knew, she might even be able to help.

Throwing the covers off, Felicity got out of bed and slipped her feet into her slippers, grabbing her robe and making her way to the stairs. It was a bit chilly that morning so she wrapped her robe around herself and hugged her arms as she started walking down the stairs. She hadn’t gotten very far when she heard his soft voice.

“Good morning,” he said as she looked up to see him putting something onto a plate.

“Good morning,” she yawned, holding her hand over her mouth as she descended the final stairs. When she looked around the apartment, she noticed that all of the broken glass from the previous day had been cleaned up and a sheet of plastic was covering where the window had been broken. “You didn’t have to do this by yourself,” she told him.

“I didn’t want you coming down and walking on broken glass,” he explained, walking over to her with a cup of coffee. He knew she just wasn’t herself until she had gotten some coffee into her and for the discussion he had planned, he needed her completely awake.

Leaning down to her, he gave her a smile before placing a quick kiss on her lips. “How did you sleep?” he asked, handing her the mug.

Taking a sip of the hot beverage, she let out a sigh as she held the mug between her hands. “Fine,” she replied. “It got a little cold when my personal heater left the bed though.”

Oliver gave her an apologetic smile before heading back to the kitchen. “Sorry. I wanted to get things cleaned up before you got up.”

Walking over to the kitchen, Felicity took a seat on a stool at the breakfast bar as Oliver placed a plate in front of her. She looked up at him in surprise when she saw her favorite breakfast in front of her. Strawberry crepes with fresh berries.

“What’s the occasion?” she asked, looking at Oliver suspiciously.

“Does there have to be an occasion for me to make you breakfast?” he asked, putting a glass of orange juice near her plate.

“No,” she agreed as she picked up her fork, “but this isn’t your usual breakfast. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I’d never complain about you cooking for me.”

“Maybe I just wanted to show you how much I love you,” he suggested as he leaned onto the counter on his elbows.

“Mmm hmm.” Felicity still wasn’t convinced, but she wasn’t going to let such an amazing breakfast go to waste either. Cutting off a piece of the crepe, she picked it up and put it in her mouth, letting out a moan when she tasted it. “Oh, this is so good.”

Oliver smiled as he stood back up again. “Glad you like it.” As he turned back to the stove, Oliver started to get a little more nervous, realizing that he was going to have to tell her soon. Popping a strawberry into his mouth, he took a deep breath and let it out, looking at the far wall as he prepared himself. Turning back to her, he saw she was almost finished with her breakfast and that made him smile.

“I guess you were hungry,” he noticed, bringing the coffee pot over to refill her mug.

“You can’t let this get cold,” she explained as she put the final piece of crepe in her mouth. “It just doesn’t taste as good.” Putting her fork down on her plate she let out a sad sigh. “But then it’s gone…”

“I can make you more if you want,” Oliver offered, as he reached over to take her plate.

When she looked up at him, she saw something in her eye that made her pause. “No, that’s ok,” she told him as she watched him put her plate in the dishwasher. “What’s going on?”

Her question caught him off guard as he paused momentarily before putting the plate in and closing the door. “What do you mean?”

“You just seem… jumpy,” she explained. “And with the whole breakfast thing… Is something on your mind?”

Oliver sighed as he latched the dishwasher closed. Turning to face her, he looked into her eyes and just saw love and concern. He could do this. He had to do this.

“I want to tell you something,” he told her as he walked over to stand near her. “It’s something I found out when we were in Central City.”

“Is this what you were going to tell me last night?” she asked. “Because you said it was over.”

“Well, part of it is over,” he explained, reaching out to take her hands. “But there’s more.”

Felicity could see that whatever it was was weighing heavily on his mind. Reaching up to touch his face, she gave him a warm smile. “It’s ok,” she reassured him. “You can tell me anything.”

Oliver took a deep breath and laughed nervously. “I didn’t think it would be this hard,” he admitted.

Felicity just sat and waited. She knew whatever Oliver was trying to tell her was big enough to make him more nervous than she had ever seen him. He needed to get it out in his own time.

“I was going to tell you last night,” he began, “but then I remembered something Barry had said and I was… scared to tell you.”

“Why would you be scared to tell me?” she asked.

Oliver looked into her eyes and let out a sigh. “This is going to sound crazy.”

Felicity cocked her head to the side and looked at him incredulously. “We just spent the past few days fighting against an immortal man. I don’t think anything is crazy anymore.”

Oliver had to admit, she had a point. “Well, apparently Barry can… travel back in time.”

“Really??” Felicity seemed genuinely impressed and shocked by this revelation. “Well, I suppose if he can run fast enough he can break through the space time continuum and travel back…” Felicity stopped when she saw the confused look on Oliver’s face. “Ok, so Barry can travel back in time. So?”

“So,” he continued, “apparently he travelled back in time because our encounter with Vandal Savage didn’t go so well and everyone… except him… died.”

“Oh.” Felicity crunched up her face in distress. “That sucks.”

“Yeah, kinda does, doesn’t it?”

“So he came back to tell us what we did wrong?” she surmised.

“Yes,” he agreed, “but also to tell me that part of the reason we failed was that my head wasn’t in the game.”

“That doesn’t sound like you,” she told him.

“No, it doesn’t,” he agreed, looking down at their hands. “He said my head wasn’t in it because you and I had a big argument. To him, it looked like… we broke up.”

Felicity’s grip on his hands tightened making him look back up at her. “I can’t imagine anything we could fight over that would cause that to happen.”

“Now you can see why I’m so hesitant to tell you what I need to tell you.”

The concern on Felicity’s face was evident as she considered what he was telling her. Apparently he had told her this secret before and it hadn’t ended well for them. Just the thought of loosing Oliver made her heart clench in her chest.

“You said Barry _thought_ we broke up,” she clarified. “Maybe it was just a fight. We don’t know what he saw or didn’t see. All I know is that I can’t think of anything that would make me break up with you. I love you too much.”

Oliver smiled as he leaned over and kissed her gently. “I love you too.”

Felicity smiled as she reached up to touch his face. “Oliver, just… let me help you.”

Reaching down to take his hands again, Felicity saw Oliver take a deep breath as he looked down at their hands. “Ok, so, when we were in Central City, I tracked down someone I knew from before the Gambit went down. I found out where she lived and went to see her.”

“Why?” Felicity asked, a bit concerned that what he was telling her had something to do with another woman.

Oliver looked up and saw the concern on Felicity’s face. “I had seen her the day before,” he admitted. “She was at CC Jitters… with her son. She didn’t see me, but when I saw her with her son…”

Oliver could see that Felicity was still confused. “Do you remember when I told you about the girl I had gotten pregnant?”

Felicity nodded as her heart began to speed up. “She told you she had lost it.”

“Yea, well, apparently she lied.”

Felicity’s eyes opened widely as she understood what he had been trying to tell her. “Her son?? Was he…”

Oliver just nodded as he looked down at their hands again. “I confronted her at her house,” he explained. “She told me that he wasn’t mine, but I had Barry run a DNA test on a hair sample from him. There was no doubt. He’s my son.”

“Oh my god, Oliver.” Oliver looked up at her and only saw compassion on her face. “How could she not tell you?”

“My mother,” he revealed. “Samantha show me a check my mother had given her to just… disappear. She didn’t cash it, but she still stayed away. I guess she didn’t want me in her son’s life.” 

“Samantha?” Felicity asked. “That’s her name?”

Oliver just nodded. “Her son… my son… his name is William.”

“William.” Felicity said the name, just trying it out for herself. Oliver’s son. She couldn’t believe it. “Oliver, she doesn’t have a right to keep you from your son.”

“I told her I wanted to be part of his life,” he explained, “but she had… conditions.”

“What kind of conditions?” Felicity asked, not liking that she would basically blackmail him just so he could see his own son.

Oliver took a deep breath and held her hands tightly. “She told me I couldn’t tell anyone about him,” he revealed. “Not even you.”

Felicity knew what it meant for him to be sharing this with her. If she ever found out what he had done… “Oh, Oliver.”

“I couldn’t do it,” he told her, releasing one of his hands to reach up to touch her face as he leaned onto her forehead. “I couldn’t keep something like this from you. You mean everything to me. I just couldn’t keep something like this from you.”

“Maybe that’s what you did in the other time line,” Felicity suggested as she reached out to touch his chest. “I imagine I would have been pretty pissed off if I had somehow found out about this on my own.”

“So I did good?” Oliver asked as he pulled back and gave her a small smile.

Felicity responded with an even bigger smile as she reached up and put her arms around his neck. “You did very good,” she told him, pulling him closer to stand between her legs.

“You aren’t mad at me?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Why would I be mad at you?” she asked. “This happened before we even met, right?”

“Mmm hmm,” he acknowledged.

“So, he’s what… 7? 8 years old?”

“Closer to 10,” he corrected.

“10 years old,” Felicity repeated softly. “Wow…”

“I know.”

Felicity still couldn’t believe that Oliver had a pre-teen son. It was just so much to take in. She could only imagine how Oliver was feeling. He has a son. That had to throw him for quite the loop.

“Oliver, I’d never be mad at you because you have a son,” she told him, holding him just a little tighter. “I think it’s wonderful that you want to be part of his life.”

“I want you to be part of his life too,” he told her, causing her to look at him in surprise. “As soon as it’s possible, I want you to meet him.”

Felicity just smiled as she looked up at him. “I’d like that, but I understand I can’t until… Samantha?... until his mother lets me.”

“I won’t stop trying to convince her,” he told her with conviction. “We’re a team.”

“That’s right,” she agreed, giving him a big smile as she remembered their conversation from the previous night. “And you’re the best teammate I could ever have.”

“Thank you,” he said warmly, reaching up to touch her cheek as his thumb gently rubbed against her face. “I don’t know how I could do this without you.”

“Now you won’t have to,” she told him.

Oliver smiled as he leaned down and kissed her forehead before wrapping her into a warm embrace. He just held her and sighed, feeling so lucky to have someone like her in his life. He wouldn’t stop asking Samantha if he could bring Felicity. She’d never know that he told her about William. He knew Felicity could keep a secret. He just hoped that one day, she wouldn’t have to.


End file.
